Fujifilm FinePix A101

Opinion: Just what I needed, a hybrid PC Webcam and Digital camera. Its very difficult to buy a decent webcam with passable digicam features. My options were limited to the webcam biased Intel PC Camera Pro or the Creative Webcam Go Plus which both had internal 8mb memories. Then I was introduce to the A101 and immediately bought it at rm760 (about USD190 but includes and extra 16mb SmartMedia card). The Digicam photos were better than I expected and certainly better than the Intel & Creative offerings. The webcam was a letdown but functional. Webcam images came out very dark and required a lot of backlight. Anyway, for the price, I'm satisfied with the A101.

Opinion: My first digital camera. I'm having a lot of fun. Image quality is excellent. I wanted something comparable with our canon compact 35mm and this easily fits the bill.
That said, there are teething problems. The notion that this might be useable with alkaline batteries is ridiculous. It eats them for breakfast. Seems ok with nimh batteries but it didn't even have enough power with batteries supplied to kick the software into action. The ac adaptor is a necessity so nimh batts and adaptor should be sold as part of the package not as supposedly optional extras.
Once up and running software is easy to use. Great fun.

Opinion: Thia camera is great. I have owned it for 1 month. Just previously, I have another digital camera which simply fell apart, and ate batteries. This camera downloads fast and easy ( plug it in and it simply download the photos to a PC by way of USB port). The pictures look great , but I usually have to adjust brightness with the film factory software included. I like the picture quality of prints as large as 5x7.
Also can be used a webcam. I purchased a 32 meg smartmedia storage for $27.00 and a power adapter for $39.00. I really like this camera over all, and I did a lot of shopping prior to purchase.

Opinion: After reading all the reviews that I could, and trying the camera for a while, I must say that this is a great NOVICE camera. I am not going to "inflate" my review, like others, just I want to say that it is a great camera for the money it costs. Quality of images is acceptable, having in mind that it IS only a 1280 (1.2 effective Mpx). But it is still good for a novice or for those that just want a NO problem camera. Just for WEB or PC storage it is great. BUT do not ask any of the fancies you can find in other models. I must say in fact, that it is very similar to its predeccesor the Finepix 1300.
In summary you will be able to make great average pictures under 1Mb resolution. Great for Web procceses or funny pictures , ok, even you can make decent copies in 7*5. Another adventage over the 1300 is the new design, (lens cover finally!), the video mode (20 seconds VGA), and even you may use it as a Web cam. Don't you think it's a bargain?
Yes it is, under 200$ you will have a good amateur camera for all kind people: Ocassional photographers, web design fans, and even for those of you who need also a web cam, you do not need anymore to waste your money in other options, just because the A 101 has a smooth frame rate as a web cam, and remember you can make VGA videos of 20 seconds (no voice).

So I would reccomend this model to those amateurs like me that do not want to deal with a huge of wires and devices, and were looking more quality than a normal fancy devices offered by other brands that by far have nothing to say to this real TRAVELLER camera.